NHOA S.A. (NHOA) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary
March 25, 2022
Earnings Call Speaker Segments
Chiara Cerri
executiveGood morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to our investor call regarding our full year 2021 results and 2022 highlights. The investor call will be opened by Mr. Carlalberto Guglielminotti, CEO of NHOA Group. And we have the pleasure to have with us today Mr. Nelson Chang, Chairman of TCC and President of NHOA Group. With Mr. Guglielminotti and Mr. Chang to explain all details about the full year 2021 results and 2022 highlights, Mrs. Ilaria Scarinci, Group Financial Officer; Mr. Giuseppe Artizzu, CEO of NHOA Energy and NHOA Group General Manager; and Mr. Gabriele Tuccillo, Chief of Staff, In Charge of Strategic Planning and Investor Relations. Mr. Guglielminotti will open the call with the main corporate and industrial 2021 highlights. And then we'll leave the floor to the financial analysis by Mrs. Ilaria Scarinci. It will be followed by Mr. Chang's overview. At the end of our presentation, the management team will be available to answer any questions you may have. Please note that this investor call will be recorded. If you could not attend the whole call, the webcast and the presentation will soon be available on our corporate website on the dedicated page. [Operator Instructions]. Before we begin, I just want to point out that any forward-looking statements made during today's call are subject to the risks and uncertainties mentioned in the safe harbor statement, which is included on Page 2 of today's presentation. This also includes the risk that the transactions discussed during today's call remains subject to the standard conditions for this type of transaction as well as any other risks and uncertainties associated with the execution of transactions of this type. And as customary, the call will be governed by that language. So with that, I will now leave the floor to Mr. Carlalberto Guglielminotti.
Carlalberto Guglielminotti
executiveThank you very much, Chiara, and good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for being with us today. It's really a pleasure for me to talk to you today with Mr. Chang, our President, that honored us with his presence in person for our investor call. I will be happy to leave the floor to him after my brief presentation on our major industrial and corporate highlights and after the deep dive of our financials with our Group CFO, Ilaria Scarinci. So let me start with some figures, just to give you a general overview. NHOA successfully matched the mid-range of its 2021 guidance, setting what is a clear trajectory towards 2022 expectations and now trying a new growth path. Almost EUR 33 million revenues, 3x, compared to full year 2020, backlog close to EUR 200 million, up 5x compared to 2020, giving clear visibility towards the EUR 100 million to EUR 150 million revenue 2022 target. And last but not least, certainly, our EUR 140 million Rights Issue, successfully completed with 1.4x oversubscription, confirming the market trust in NHOA and NHOA's Masterplan10x. I mean 2021 has been a transformational year across all Global Business Lines. In Energy Storage, is confirmed itself on the core and the backbone of NHOA activities. More than 2x revenues year-on-year, record order intake to over EUR 200 million and more than 1 gigawatt hours of projects under development. eMobility on its turn accelerated NHOA's increasing revenues and other income. I mean, 5x increase in sales compared to 2020, manufacturing capacity increased to over 2,000 units per week and 18% conversion rate on Stellantis brands. EV Fastcharging Infrastructure on its turn leveraging on NHOA's technological base and operational backbone, closed 2021 with over 700 fastcharging points online and under construction and over 800 sites in pipeline. Then looking generally to the milestones we achieved in 2021, it sounds a bit surreal because it looks to me, how can I say, a geological year. But we started 2021 with the JV with Stellantis because you will remember that at the end of 2020, we essentially signed an MOU with Fiat Chrysler, while it was January 2021 when we signed the joint venture agreement with Stellantis. Then in March and April, TCC acquired over 60% of our corporate capital from ENGIE. And we started the new adventure to TCC becoming NHOA, then closing the joint venture in May with Stellantis and incorporating Free2move eSolutions, which is our Global Business Line devoted to eMobility. Then we announced our master plan and the launch of the Atlante project in July, launching the largest EV infrastructure network, coupled with Renewables and Storage. Then -- this was July. In September, we successfully completed the tender offer. We launched the Atlante with the official kickoff that has been in October last year. And between November and December, we completed the EUR 140 million Rights Issue. So it has been an intense year from the corporate perspective, while we never reduced the intensity on the business and on technology. I mean you will remember that last year, in February, we launched the 2023 technology road map, a technology road map that still is the backbone of all our technological developments. Then we announced 10-megawatt hours extension of the microgrid in California. We launched the master plan and eventually, thanks to the support of TCC, the new equity story of NHOA together with TCC materialized with over 400-megawatt towers contracts in Taiwan and over 200-megawatt towers contract in Australia, reaching over 1 gigawatt towers of projects under development globally. Last but not least, we launched and opened our new global engineering center in Milan without keeping focus on the most important asset we have, which are our people. Our people that are now, let me say, protected by a new framework, a new framework, which is around sustainability, which is around inclusion, around cultural and value aspects that have been historically characterizing NHOA, that now are even more intensively put at the center stage of all our strategies. Then all that while we increased our headcount from 136 people at the very beginning of the year to over 300 people at the end of 2021. Then Giuseppe, I will leave the floor to you for a quick deep dive on the highlights for the Energy Storage business.
Giuseppe Artizzu
executiveThank you, Carlalberto. The headline number that summarizes our performance in 2021 is the transition of our order backlog from over EUR 30 million to just short of EUR 200 million. I think that is telling to what we have built during the year. That translating a portfolio project in construction, preconstruction of around 1 gigawatt hour, of which around 300-megawatt hour are going to come online by the end of this year. And this is across our 3 core geographies, our base in Europe, the U.S. franchise that developed throughout the 3 years that we spend within the [ energy ] group and our new frontier, which is Asia Pacific, that now represent over half of our order backlog across Taiwan, of course, Australia and South Pacific Islands. This is supported by an operational presence that from Europe, from Milan, from our Cosio industrial plant this year, which are now almost 0.5 gigawatt hour of capacity, is now spread to the United States, Houston hub and in Asia Pacific through the 2 hubs of Taipei and Perth in Western Australia. And surprisingly, this has been boosted by our core resource, which is our pool of talent. We grew from 114 to 172 people in the year, so a 50% increase, which I can guarantee you in the current labor market, condition extremely tight, in particular for the kind of professionals that we look for. It is a major achievement, something we are -- which we are proud of as manager -- as entrepreneurs. So a transformational year. Carlalberto, back to you.
Carlalberto Guglielminotti
executiveThank you, Giuseppe. And going on with our Global Business Line, eMobility. Certainly, the most important data in KPI we have is the conversion rate at the Stellantis level. A conversion rate that progressively increased from 0, I mean, in May 2021 to over 18% at the end of the year. And this is the blended percentage, which is the average, obviously, between the former Fiat Chrysler brands and the former PSA brands that now merged into Stellantis. Most importantly, the manufacturing capacity increased from less than 500 units per week in -- at the end of 2020, beginning of 2021 to over 2,000 units per week at the end of 2021. With the targets, and that's in anticipation to reach over 6,000 units per week by the end of this year. Most importantly, the achievement and the industrial and operational achievement of the Drosso projects, essentially the largest Vehicle-to-Grid projects, we installed back in 2020 and increased to over 30-megawatt power and over 600 vehicles connected over the course of 2022. It's been extremely successful, and the construction is ongoing and will be completed very, very soon. In parallel, the product -- launch of our products is absolutely in line with the technology road map. You will certainly remember that we have given to our stakeholders, including the market, a clear path towards launching products at different quarters. So everything is absolutely on track. Everything has been respected. We started with the easyWallbox, then we launched the ePublic, then the eProWallbox, and all the other products will be released according to the technology and product road map. Last but not least in eMobility, we have seen an acceleration on our activities in second-life. Second-life is one of the few ways we have to secure sustainability of the battery business in the long term and after, let's say, 5 years, of work on those aspects, our battery aging models and the life test that we are carrying out are eventually giving us a lot of excitement, a lot of exciting news, and the development of usage of second-life batteries is becoming more seriously a reality. A reality that will certainly change the paradigm of the sustainability of the electric business. Then last point on the EV Fastcharging Infrastructure. In terms of highlights, as said, over 700 charge points online and under construction, over 800 sites in pipeline, and with the first launch of the fastcharging infrastructure in Piedmont in Italy in October and November last year. Then the iconic award of the Milan, Linate and Malpensa Airports, together with Free2X, will represent one of the most iconic contracts secured in one of the most iconic infrastructures ever installed because it's exactly in front of the airport. And then the partnerships we signed with Sonae Sierra for malls and residentials and real estate premises with LDC Hotel for luxury hotels and related electrification. And last but not least, all the private areas in which we are installing hundreds of fastcharging station and hundreds of points of charge very, very, very fast at the pace, which is really impressive. I mean we installed 2x what has been in 1 quarter, 2x what has been installed by Ionity to give you an idea in years or more than half of what has been installed by Tesla in the last 10 years in terms of size. So we are really satisfied with that. And certainly, that's a fantastic starting point for 2022 to even potentially accelerate the development of the incentive plan. Then having introduced the major industrial and highlights, I will now leave the floor to Mr. Ilaria Scarinci, our Group CFO, to deep dive on the financial aspects of our results. Ilaria, the floor is yours.
Ilaria Scarinci
executiveThank you, Carlalberto. Good morning, everyone. Really glad to be here to discuss the 2021 NHOA's results. As we said, in 2021, NHOA successfully met its revenue guidance, reaching EUR 33 million of revenues among the 2 Global Business Line, Energy Storage and eMobility. Gross margin is in line with expectations considering the mix of revenue. Cost of personnel and OpEx in line with company growth and with the setup of cost base needed to execute the EUR 193 million of firm orders that we have in our backlog. Depreciation and amortization account to EUR 5 million. Considering the exceptional year, we obviously had some onetime events on the costs related to TCC acquisition in the establishment of the JV with Stellantis. The incentive plan accelerated by the change of control. Without those onetime events, we would have an adjusted EBITDA [ in minus ] of EUR 18 million. Going to the key figures of NHOA. During 2021, NHOA experienced a very positive trend in terms of revenues, so that's multiplied by 3 compared to 2020 and also confirmed the competitiveness with respect to the main competitors. And that even considering what we explained, so the effort dedicated by the management to M&A and extraordinary operations, the closing of TCC, the launch of JV with Stellantis, the successful closing of EUR 140 million of capital increases, also considering the supply chain disruption and the COVID-19-related logistic restrictions. Thanks to the great visibility that we have in terms of revenue recognition, considering the EUR 193 million of backlog just related to the Energy Storage. As of today, we confirm the expectation in terms of revenues and EBITDA breakeven in 2022. As of today, we do not see any issue in terms of -- in terms of our -- sorry, of the EUR 150 million revenues that we project on 2022. In order to execute the backlog, the continued growth on eMobility and the rollout of Atlante infrastructure, NHOA goes on with its ambitious [ hiring ] plan. The growth in terms of account at plus 75% at the end of 2021 reached, as of today, more than 300 people. The Rights Issue successfully completed in November 2021 is obviously an immediate factor in terms of our equity increased to [ EUR 160 million ]. And at year-end, we have a net financial position positive for EUR 75 million. If we want to go to the next slide, please. So going into details on Energy Storage Global Business Line. Revenues doubled compared to 2020, thanks to the delivery of critical components for the [indiscernible] project in Europe, where most of revenues were concentrated in 2021, thanks to the commissioning of Massachusetts project, the commercial operation of Sol De Insurgentes, California project expansions in U.S. and fastcharging construction in Synergy in Australia. Backlog and contracts secured reached EUR 249 million as of the end of December 2021 and are distributed in Asia, Australia and America. Again, this gives us a very clear visibility on 2022 revenues recognition. While the pipeline remains stable, even considering the EUR 200 million order intake released during the year, allowing us to set up the path to 2023 and onwards. People dedicated to Energy Storage at the end of 2021 were 136. So a 29% increase in costs compared to 2020. In addition, we have -- okay, we're going to go on the next. Okay. Thanks. So we move on eMobility Global Business Line, revenues multiplied by 6 compared to 2020 and most entirely related to the sale of eMobility -- of easyWallbox. 61% Of the sales of concentrating on Stellantis brand, and particularly FCA, as we already stated. But it's important to note that even if the JV started operations just in May 2021, at the end of 2021, had a 40% of non-captive sales. During the year, we invested EUR 5.9 million, mainly in software development as well as R&D, hardware and V2G-related activities. And also increased the charging device manufacturing capacity from 500 at the beginning of 2021 to 2,250 charging device per week at the year-end. And thanks to the internalization part of the production, we are currently at 2,875 devices per week, and we plan to reach more than 6,000 by the end of 2022. As of the end of December, we had 90 people dedicated to , eMobility, mainly concentrated on business and R&D activities and the personnel cost multiplied by 3 compared to 2020. Cost of personnel dedicated to R&D activities increased to EUR 1 million, confirming our strong commitment to the technology development. Carlalberto, back to you.
Carlalberto Guglielminotti
executiveThank you. Thank you, Ilaria. And I think we will now have to leave the floor to Mr. Nelson Chang that, as I said before, I'm really honored to have here with us today in person. Nelson will share with us his view on our results and our targets and our future growth, I mean, on what is -- now that I think about it, our first year together. And when you, Nelson and GPS became NHOA, our master plan became the guideline of our future growth and the Atlante, the fastcharging network was launched. I mean many things have been done. This is mainly thanks to you. So thank you, Nelson, for believing in our equity story, and now the floor is yours.
An-Ping Chang
executiveGood morning, everybody. Thank you very much, Carlalberto, Giuseppe, Ilaria for a detailed report of 2021 operation numbers and as well a brief introductory of 2022 business directions. I'm very happy to be here, especially after the difficulty of pandemic, traveling between Asia and Europe tend to be a little bit difficult. I must say that given the very harsh [Audio Gap] Chain problems, supply resource problems. But even given all those problems, the team is still able to deliver our prediction, our projection. And even though it's not on the high end, but nonetheless, still come in at a very strong performance. And given the fact that the Russian and Ukraine war still going on, we're still doing a business -- effective business, effective direction for Europe as well as in Asia. I think I want to say a few things about our business is I think I believe that current stabilization in the world is stabilization of energy. And given the current technology today, especially in Q1 this year, we know that there's a shortage of energy. In order to bridge the need and the use of energy with supply, the most effective way to do it is the efficiency and effective use of energy. And that is our business because EV is the most effective energy for transportation versus fossil fuel, and that's what we're doing, fastcharge, supporting EV networks throughout Europe and starting in Asia as well. Second, that energy are produced, not always when we need it and has always wasted sometimes, excess energy production without delivering to its effective use, and storage is definitely the most effective way of storing energy when actual requirement comes in. And this is 2 of our fundamental business, the charging and storage, to make the grid, the current actually integrated grid more effective and more flexible as well as more resilient to surprises. I believe that NHOA has a very effective business model going for the future. And we are very happy to work with Carlalberto and the NHOA team, not only in Europe, but in Asia to roll out what we can do best for various economic regions as well as for the Earth. And I believe 2022, you already have a glimpse of what they are doing. And I believe what we're doing will be effective and ambitious rollout plans. And we will provide, as our name will tell you, a new horizon ahead effectively in 2022. Thank you very much. I believe you have questions concerning numbers and operations. I believe Carlalberto and Giuseppe will be here to answer all of your questions. Thank you very much.
Carlalberto Guglielminotti
executiveThank you, Nelson. Thank you for your inspiring words. What I would like to highlight is how we share the same view for the future of the planet and what we want to do is to leave the planet better than how we found it. So eventually, that's the end game and that's also the mission of NHOA. So I really appreciate your words. Thank you again, Nelson, really. I think we can now move to our Q&A session. And together with the management team, we are ready to take any questions you may have. Chiara floor yours to open the Q&A session.
Chiara Cerri
executive[Operator Instructions]. Okay, we already have raised hands. First one is Guillaume Muros from Societe Generale. I will just now ask you to open your mic. Floor is yours.
Guillaume Muros
analystHello, hello, everyone. Can you hear me well?
Chiara Cerri
executiveYes.
Guillaume Muros
analystPerhaps the first question, I have a couple, but let's start by the backbone of your business on the Storage GBL. And 2 points. First one, could you give us an overview of your current pipeline of projects? And how you are positioned there? And second point, regarding the supply chain disruptions, could you give us a bit of color there? And perhaps could you elaborate a bit on the rationale to use the Cosio Valtellino plant in Italy for commercial purposes? And how should we think of basically your, I mean, strategy and business model on Storage going forward, i.e., do we -- will supply chain disruptions structurally change your model and Storage going forward or not?
Carlalberto Guglielminotti
executiveThank you for your question. I mean many arguments, quite wide, let me say. So the pipeline, mainly storage, supply chain in Russia. I will comment at the end, but certainly floor is yours, Giuseppe, to comment on that.
Giuseppe Artizzu
executiveSo let me start from a very high-level overview of our pipeline. As you've seen from our figures, the pipeline is largely unchanged. I think that hides an improvement in the quality -- the underlying quality of the pipeline, meaning that with our increasing localized presence in the key markets and the consolidation of the key markets, we can be way more selective in what we pursue and we don't pursue. So even though on a high level, the pipeline seems to be stable, in reality, the underlying movement in the pipeline reflect the expansion of the market and the ability to be more selective on the quality of opportunities that we can pursue and therefore, on the probability of those hitting a successful outcome. It is diversified across the 3 core geographies of Europe, United States and Asia Pacific. And it is increasing in the average size of the projects. This is something which is at the same time an opportunity and a challenge because I mean it's -- the growing size of the project entails logistics challenges and procurement challenges, which cannot be hidden. So from that perspective, on one side, we welcome the rapid acceleration of market demand. On the other side, this is something that we are approaching very cautiously, given that constrained, the unprecedented, let me say, market conditions we are living in. The general health of the market is excellent from a fundamental perspective, meaning that more and more policymakers and regulators have understood the underlying strength of the business case in -- of Energy Storage as a way to stabilize grid on one side and to manage energy during the day in order to adapt the production profile of renewable energy sources to the consumption profile, which is not related. On the other hand, the tension on the supply chain, partly as -- not only for the negative effects of pandemics or the worse situation in Russia and Ukraine, but also because of the much faster-than-expected uptake in electric vehicles and therefore, the increase in demand of batteries has seen a rebound in the price of battery, significant rebound. So normally, the Q4 high prices, high price is as usual. So we do expect that the market will slow down compared to what it would have been without these kind of challenges. So that doesn't -- it's not a slow down in absolute terms, but it's a slow down, it's a relative slow down compared to the underlying potential on the market. And on the other hand, the challenges, and I'm already touching here on the second question, Guillaume, on supply chain disruption. There are significant issues of cost hedging because, in particular, battery supply materials, battery materials, metals like cobalt, nickel have very low liquidity in the [ thermal ] market, so in the [ future ] market. And therefore, even for battery suppliers, it's difficult to fix prices for delivery beyond the 3 or 6 months. And normally, the delivery of batteries on large project as an extended time frame. So these kind of challenges are affecting the market. We think they are a big challenge for the industry, but something from which the industry will come out stronger. For sure, it's a challenge as an opportunity for us, meaning that it's people that are nimble enough, fast enough, entrepreneurial enough to understand where risk is to proactively manage risk and to practically take risk when we think it's the right opportunity. It actually -- the people that will come out better from this phase. So the supply chain situation is not challenging, it's unprecedented. It is unprecedented for both negative and positive reason as far as battery is concerned. It is unprecedented for across the commodity spectrum, including important item that we take for granted, like steel. I mean, steel supply to Europe has been very significantly affected by Ukraine war. And we have to adapt also from that perspective. So our risk profile, in particular new projects, risk approach -- risk management approach to tranches extremely more careful than it was 1.5 years or 2 years ago. We try and have back-to-back commitment with clients and with supplier essentially in real time. And we are invariably demanding clients to accept hardship clauses, force majeure clauses that are something that, however, while we're almost, let me call them, academic clauses in contract because they had to be there in the past. Now they are clauses that are very likely to be used or are being used regularly on certain contracts. So for several months, this is the new normal. Within this, the role of our manufacturing capacity in Cosio Valtellino. So as you know, why are we producing -- why are we centering our manufacturing in Cosio Valtellino? And then, however, let's discuss also what that means. So as you know, Italy after Germany is the second largest industrial economy in industrial exporter in Europe. There's the reason behind that, which is the strength of the Italian District, we are in the power electronic district. So we build on that, which allows extreme competitiveness from a cost perspective and ability to -- a flexibility in ramping up and down production capacity in -- with limited fixed cost investment. Why is this important? We have essentially 3 manufacturing -- 3 core manufacturing expertise. The core, core one is the energy management system. So the ability to develop and market and design around that expertise is the intelligence of Energy Storage systems. The second one is power conversion systems. And the third one is the ability to enclose batteries from an electromechanical, so a [ containerization ] capacity, the ability to enclose batteries in the safest and most efficient environment. The mix of -- the mix of production across project changes because sometimes we buy already enclosed batteries from third-party suppliers. So we don't need to containerize, in some other cases, we do containerize. In some projects, we use our own inverters. In some other projects, we use third-party inverters. So it is extremely agile and flexible what we call manufacturing capacity, which is very much skewed towards managing smartly a deep network of subcontractor with exceptional competence in power electronics and electromechanical assembly. So this is why we are -- we continue to see Cosio as the pivot of our manufacturing capacity. We are monthly revisiting our manufacturing priorities. The imperative is competitiveness and reliability in delivery, in quality and safety. It is in a rapidly changing environment, and it would be, not only premature, but will be wrong to indicate rigid priorities. For the time being, we are happy where we are in terms of ramping up in a flexible way and being able to arbitrate between the market opportunities on one side and to build on the cost strength that comes from our district presence. Last point, that is important, of course, we are exploring deeply the potential synergies that we can have with the TCC supply chain in Taiwan across the spectrum from power electronics to electromechanical assembly. Literally, everything. So there is just obviously, it is on our trend. It's something we are working on also because geographies are being unevenly or asymmetrically affected by some of the supply chain constraints.
Carlalberto Guglielminotti
executiveMaybe, Chiara, will suggest to divide if we have any questions, maybe to split them just to...
Chiara Cerri
executiveExactly. We now have a question coming from Carlos Remeika from Covalis. His first question is, what is the plan in EV charging in Taiwan? 7-ELEVEN has more than 5,000 locations. How big will the pilot be?
Carlalberto Guglielminotti
executiveOkay. I will leave to Nelson to comment, but let me be clear on this aspect. This was not an announcement of NHOA. Okay? This was an announcement of NHOA.TCC, so essentially TCC. Let me explain you why. NHOA has a master plan, which has been published in the market, which is very clear. So we have a clear road map on eMobility, which is manufacturing devices, and the clear road map on Atlante. Atlante as of today is EV Fastcharging Infrastructure with its own targets that we all know for 2025 and 2030, but exclusively as of today for Italy, France, Spain and Portugal, okay? So this is the master plan. This is what we are doing. While in parallel, and we have already seen the great results out of that in Suao and Hoping, but in parallel our majority shareholder has been authorized by NHOA to use also the brand of NHOA in the form of NHOA.TCC, okay, to carry out the business development activities in the 2 sectors in which we are absolutely free to do whatever we want globally, which are Energy Storage from the one hand and EV Fastcharging Infrastructure, okay? So this business development activity, which is carried out as a support to NHOA by our major shareholder, is a business activity, which has been extremely fruitful and extremely beneficial and the contract of the 400-megawatt hours contracts get in Taiwan are a clear evidence of that, okay? However, we have to pay attention on the fact that those are business development activities carried out by the shareholders. And therefore, as far as we are not going to announce as NHOA what we do in Taiwan, this remains an activity carried out by TCC that eventually would be obviously beneficial also for NHOA. Under your control, Nelson, I leave you -- I leave to you to comment the deal with 7-ELEVEN.
An-Ping Chang
executiveI think it's important to note that every country has its own consumer habits and consumer practices as well as its energy grid design. I think NHOA is going to be an international company, a world company. We need to understand as many information as possible about different type of consumers, how they develop charging, how they use charging, et cetera. And as well, as storage needs accessibility of different grid designs. And Taiwan has a different design versus Italy versus probably most of Europe. So by adding something a relatively big in almost 0.5 gig of storage into the power system that will help us to understand more of how Asian power grid is designed, and that information certainly will be shared with NHOA in Italy. And that knowledge will help both sides to develop future business for the world. And as you know, TCC is an industrial company. We do not deal normally with consumers. That's why we partnered with 7-ELEVEN. 7-ELEVEN has a huge branch out, layout in Taiwan and in Asia, and they know consumers. So we use their premises and work with them to supply their customers with EV charge. And from that relationship, hopefully, we will obtain information as well. As you know, in the modern world today, information and data are most important for the future development of devices and services. I think it's a synergy provided by TCC as a partner was NHOA. But again, the Taiwan action with 7-ELEVEN is only in Taiwan, not NHOA in Europe at this point, not yet. Okay, we have not discussed any of them. Okay, not yet. Okay. This is just a [ joke ]. I hope that answered your question.
Chiara Cerri
executiveThank you very much, Mr. Chang. I will now leave the floor to Mr. [ Michele Calusa ] from Mediobanca. I was just asking to open his mic. The floor is yours [ Mr. Calusa ]. We cannot hear you.
Carlalberto Guglielminotti
executiveEven if the mic is opened.
Chiara Cerri
executiveEven if the mic is on. Yes. Okay. I will read them for you. Or maybe we can -- Okay, [ Mr. Calusa ] is writing. Can you provide an update on the status of the Australia project and the first phase of the Taiwan project in Suao?
Carlalberto Guglielminotti
executiveSure. Giuseppe, you can help us on that thing?
Giuseppe Artizzu
executiveOkay. So the Synergy project is going according to schedule. We have a large building site in earthmoving, abundant earthmoving occurring on the site with by the way, some challenges because it's a brownfield. So the characteristic of the land highly specifics. In parallel, the supply chain, despite all the challenges is [indiscernible] on track. We had a couple of force majeure declaration from suppliers that are exposed to the Black Sea region essentially, but it's a relatively limited amount of equipment, and we are managing that. So overall, it is on track for commissioning for completion later this year as we had anticipated. With respect to the Taiwan project pipeline. I mean you mentioned Suao, but in reality, we have 3 projects that are being -- that are under construction assembly in Taiwan. The most advanced one is the one that we announced last year. The Hoping one project that by the way is in the meantime [ growing ] sites. And that is fully on track and is going to be commissioned immediately. It's going to go online immediately after the summer. So we are in preparation for commissioning, while equipment is being shipped. The Suao project is on track as well, with a target for main equipment delivery in the last part of this year and actually commissioning in the first quarter of next year, while the big -- big battery, the 300-megawatt hour one, that is a large -- it's a large industrial undertaking. We are assembling Samsung batteries there. So it's a large industrial undertaking that will take our Cosio plant largely busy for -- in the second part of this year, and that is targeted for -- it's actually a 2-stage commissioning between, I think, second quarter and third quarter of next year. So far, so good. As I said, we are dealing with supply challenges daily, but I think these projects were born before the real disruption in supply chain, where we were recovering from pandemic-related disruption and -- but before the full impact of the Ukraine-Russia war. So overall, we do not hide challenges. But on the other hand, we are on track with our plans.
Carlalberto Guglielminotti
executiveI'm curious that all questions on supply chain are coming [ Energy ] Storage, right? While the major one on eMobility. So let me anticipate the question, but even if as said correctly by Giuseppe, I mean, that's a real challenging word for storage. I mean managing force majeure with suppliers is the new normal, okay? However, situation is totally under control, okay? Tough, but under control. Different perspective from eMobility. eMobility, we have major disruption. Well, before talking about Free2Move eSolutions, we should talk about global automakers. I mean global automakers are closing their own factories, okay? So the EV sales, but let me say, car sales globally slowed down dramatically. So we'll see with the Q1 results that we are going to release shortly. So we will have a dedicated touch point of that in a couple of weeks. But that's the problem. I mean the automotive sector is suffering well more than the storage industry in this period. Again, situation is under control, but with a level of sacrifice in terms of eMobility, which is well beyond the one that we have experienced in Storage. Chiara, we can go to the next question.
Chiara Cerri
executiveThank you very much. I think we can go on with the second question from Mr. Carlos Remeika from Covalis. And he is asking, Atlante. What is your view on the most optimal capital structure? Could you consider a partner in the business? And if so, how much are you willing to sell down? What is the perfect partner for business in your view?
Carlalberto Guglielminotti
executiveThank you, Carlos, for your question. I would not obviously reply to the sell-down potential opportunity you're referring to. But what I can tell you is that we have been historically clear since the very beginning when we announced Atlante. I mean Atlante is a project, which is extremely capital intensive. In principle, we raised enough money to deploy until 2025, our plan considering a capital structure that obviously includes indebtedness, okay? Well, we historically opened the door also in the very first [indiscernible] to potentially consider strategic buyers, okay? But not financial partners, but strategic partners since the very beginning, I remember also Nelson was there in July. So situation is not changed, Carlos. So we still are open on that. On -- I will not comment on the potential sell-down because this is not the driver. I mean, we do not have any intention to sell down anything on Atlante. The different story is to consider the opportunity to have a strategic partner that will join the equity story with obviously a dilution effect. If I can comment on that, certainly. But again, we've been clear since the very beginning, I would not expect any kind of capital structure with any partner that will give up our majority control of Atlante, okay? Again, as I historically said, this might be different at the country level. So at the regional level or country level, we might consider options and structures that for specific purposes, let's imagine specific mall chains or petrol station, whatever, okay, car parts chains. In this case, we might consider a different structure. But in principle, at the Atlante [ coal ] level, the only certitude we have is that we are not going to consider any sell-down per se, and most importantly, any capital structure that would dilute our control and consolidation of Atlante [ coal ] because that's strategic, okay? To us, there's a project in which we believe. We are not looking for money, even if we might have, obviously, like everybody, opportunities to raise money from strategic partners that are bringing, in principle, industrial support, acceleration to our plan or size. I mean we have multiple options on the market in general terms. And certainly, we are considering them very carefully because this might be an opportunity.
An-Ping Chang
executiveI think I'd like to emphasize that the key is that it's not sell down. We are always welcome strategic investors to join us in Atlante because Atlante will be an international company, and we'll operate in various geographies and areas, Europe, Asia Pacific or in the Americas. So therefore, it's not that investor now want to sell down our position, rather than we want to enlarge the company. So we welcome strong, strategic investors with their support as a funding as well to develop new business within Atlante. I hope that's clear.
Carlalberto Guglielminotti
executiveBut by the way, any kind of transaction, this might imply a sell down, but this is a technical way to achieve a strategic objective and not the driver. So there might be a partially, certainly not in full, but this might partially an output. Certainly not an input of the strategy.
An-Ping Chang
executiveThat correct. That's correct.
Carlalberto Guglielminotti
executiveOkay. Thank you for that. I hope I replied to your question, Chiara?
Chiara Cerri
executiveThank you very much. We have the second question from [ Mr. Calusa ] that was thanking us for our clarification on Storage and for the information we gave him about eMobility. And he was asking to be more precise on the Wallbox conversion rate. It was 18% of Stellantis. So for 2022, do you expect an acceleration, thanks to contribution of PSA sales?
Carlalberto Guglielminotti
executiveVery good question because the answer is positive, but I have to be precise because the output cannot be as positive as you can imagine, in the first reply. So let me be precise. Obviously, yes, we do expect a conversion rate. And obviously, yes, the conversion rate -- I mean, today, we have released the full year 2021 accounts. And therefore, the 18% refers to the 2021 conversion rate of Stellantis, meaning that even if we started in May, even if we started with the PSA brands, you remember in October, okay? Because the first trading and operational update we released the conversion rate at the PSA level was 0, okay? Well, even the week that I mentioned, okay, the aggregate conversion rate at the end of the year has been 18%, meaning that out of 5 cars sold by the Stellantis Group in Europe, one was equipped with our charging device, okay? Do I expect this conversion rate increase? Obviously, yes. Obviously, yes, for the simple -- I do also expect volatility, as I have been historically very clear on that. But I expect a clear raise for the simple reason that you would remember. At the FCA level, we recorded, if I'm not wrong, even over 30%, okay? While -- or close to 30%, so 1 out of 3, which means, by the way, 60% because in global carmakers, typically 50% of the sales are fleets, okay? So they are not residential B2C. So I mean 30% at a global level, means 60% of the real addressable market. So we achieved at the FCA level close to 30%, and we started with 0% then 9% at the PSA level. So obviously, yes, this blend will increase, and we expect an increase. I expect also an increase in Q1. Let's wait for the end of March and let's discuss or be patient for another couple of weeks, and we will release our results, but I can be very transparent in saying that I expect this conversion rate to increase. Well, do not draw any conclusion on that because the global EV market, please take into account that has been significantly disrupted for all carmakers, and I do not expect any exception for Stellantis in Q1, okay? So in terms of raise of -- in terms of growth of our revenues in absolute terms, even if I do expect a conversion rate, which is higher this, quarter, I do not expect, let me say, a [ wow ] revenue recognition, okay? Even if this disruptive Q1 for everybody, for the whole automotive industry does not change at all the outlook we have for 2022. Obviously, the Ukrainian crisis and war coupled with the global disruption of the supply chain that hugely impacted the automotive sector well beyond the level of impact we experienced in storage might change this outlook in Q2. But certainly, in the Q1 we had is not changing as of today, March 25, my personal outlook on 2022 for the eMobility business.
Chiara Cerri
executiveThank you very much. I think I will now leave the floor to Mr. Fabrice Theveneau from Lyxor.
Fabrice Theveneau
analystI have a first question with regard to the potential energy crisis we might face in the coming winter, notably in countries which are importing a lot of gas, like Germany, like Italy. And it seems to me that a company like yours has many things to offer, whether it's V2G, I mean, helping maybe with the cars during the day and charging only at night, maybe having different tariffs, maybe helping us on the storage. So how can you be of use to these countries? And how could it boost your business? That's the first question. And also, can you tell us what you think -- what are the risks of having a [ pause ] at some stage in the growth due to the scarcity of batteries and also the problem you discussed a bit due to the sharp price we are seeing with some components on -- that might create some problems for sourcing and also for costs?
Carlalberto Guglielminotti
executiveThank you, Fabrice. I will generally comment on the first one, leaving the conclusions to Giuseppe and then leaving the floor entirely to Giuseppe on the scarcity of batteries question. So I -- certainly, Fabrice, there is a strong correlation, what is happening today, the level of transformation. We are recording in the market is, I think, comparable to what happened with the oil embargo in the '70s. We were just discussing yesterday together with our Chairman and Giuseppe. In terms of transformation, you will remember in the '70s, has been a huge transformation because this essentially triggered the nuclear plants. This essentially triggered all gas pipelines development, which, by the way, turned into a problem in the recent weeks and months. This will be comparable in terms of size of the transformation. I will not, let me say, draw a fantastic conclusion for our business in the very short term. I mean next winter, but please take into account that certainly, we are confident this will evolve very, very, very positive for our business, okay? So with all the due respect and our sympathy and our support to the Ukrainian people for what is happening and hoping that this situation will evolve positively into a peaceful end game in the coming hours, obviously. However, this will certainly have a positive effect on the Storage and the eMobility industry in general terms for obvious reasons. I mean, dependency on Russian gas, we eventually understood that this is not the best and most intelligent energy policy. Autonomy can be reached, if not 100%, but certainly, the vast majority of our energy mix can be achieved with Renewables as far as those Renewables are coupled with Storage. And certainly, eMobility is of help and might be crucial with V2G technologies, as you currently mentioned, to support this transition and accelerate electrification. So in this context, what we expect? I personally expect an acceleration in Renewables. In Italy, we've already seen it at the residential level. We are expecting in terms of release of bureaucratic and let me say simplification -- extreme simplification of many bureaucratic aspects that you had to face at the residential level until a month ago. We are expecting the same simplification and the speeding up of bureaucratic aspects also at the utility scale level, so we will see. We do expect an acceleration of the regulatory framework for storage in Europe because of that, because that's the only way to be as much as autonomous as you can, as much clean and green as you can. And then on top of that, we have the system flexibility that can be provided by storage and you have the bulk of the base load that can be provided in different ways. We might suffer in the very short term. So we will see the European plants, I think, shortly because we might be obliged as Europeans to switch on also coal plants to cope with the short-term potential shortage. It is not yet on the table, but this might be the situation. However, as far as this is not certainly not good, but this is not shocking as far as we have a clear plan for Renewables, Storage And eMobility. So is it going to happen next winter? [ I'd like ] to. Typically those regulatory and policymaking aspects are not so -- at least they do not have the same level of speed that we have, at NHOA, okay? Let me be clear. I hope so, certainly in the medium term this will be extremely beneficial. So we are on the right part of the table from that perspective. Maybe, Giuseppe feel free to complement and to comment also on the scarcity of batteries, even if I would like to be provocative, we have on the table also one of the largest battery manufacturers in Asia. So in principle, I will not be, how can I say, so worried. But, Giuseppe, up to you.
Giuseppe Artizzu
executiveConsidering the first aspect of opportunity versus the challenges. I mean, the opportunities are largely strategic. So eventually, we are seeing in Europe a change of mindset from policymakers. Frankly, this doesn't match the frustration that we have had over 5 or 6 years because this was coming. I mean Crimea was took place in 2014, 2015. We had 5 years to prepare for this, and we didn't do it. And so frankly, unfortunately, energy infrastructure is not something that you improvise in 6 months or 1 year resolution to almost a decade of inertia. So that's -- so however, now it's a tectonic shift. And clearly, the priority -- the energy policy priorities will change, and this is going to create an opportunity of gigantic proportions in the years to come. In the very short run, however, there are going to be some tactical opportunities because, I mean, clearly, wholesale power prices that go up by 300% or 400% also mean that the value of flexibility that is brought by storage as an alternative to gas plant also dramatically accelerates the payback period of projects. So practically, we have an instant rerating of several business cases. The point is that this faces the short-term supply challenges you were mentioning. So on one side, yes, could we have extraordinary tactical opportunities in the short run? Yes. The industry in general and us specifically, are we able to catch them? I mean consider that first, we have a very large backlog to execute over the next 18 months. So -- and it's something that we have to manage proactively. And secondly, this is a timing which taking large supplier exposure is a complex matter. When we look at supply chain and challenges, always consider there are 2 aspects to it. One is price and the other one is availability. As far as battery is concerned, it's mostly a matter of price. So we have the perception that high prices will be the answer to high prices. So several projects would be for different reasons will be postponed. We are seeing a lot of tenders coming to market, and we have an issue of selectivity. So we cannot follow all the opportunities that we have. But we are also seeing a lot of tenders that get slowed down, potentially withdrawn because the response that they're getting from the industry is not in line with the expectation that clients might have created 1 year ago, 6 months ago. So again, it's a matter of -- for batteries, it's mostly a matter of price. For power electronics, there are some challenges of potential -- of general availability of equipment. Those are even more concerning, and I can just reconfirm that [ savvy ] risk management and risk taking is the general directive that we are putting on the ground. So there are opportunities, tactical opportunities, yes. We will be, by the way, announcing a small -- a medium size, a good medium-sized project that we -- that was awarded a few days ago, and we will provide details to the market shortly. So we are indeed increasing our backlog in the circumstances, and we have both the challenge and the luxury to be able and to have to do so in a very selective way.
Carlalberto Guglielminotti
executiveBy the way, just as a conclusion, let me be provocative. Giuseppe, when we listed in 2015 EPS, we've been very clear. Crimea was at that time, by the way. We've been very clear on the situation on dependency of gas. And I remember major investment banks, a major investor, they were saying, "Oh, come on, these guys, there are very little startups." Yes, they are visionary guys, but they don't have any clue. I mean, gas is a certitude. Dependency in Russia is not an issue. And eventually, what is really driving the strategy of the word is the strategy of gas buyers and gas transformers and large incumbents in Italy. Not sure that those certitudes have been verified. So that's in front of our very eyes that an energy policy that is not well drafted and that assumes that the situation will remain the same forever and might be extremely dangerous for the people, for the country and eventually also for the GDP. But I think that it will turn into a positive shocks for the whole European countries and gas loggers. Do we have any final questions, Chiara, because I think time is running out.
Chiara Cerri
executiveExactly. We have time for just one last question, which is from Mr. Remeika from Covalis. About battery storage. How is the auction calendar looking for you? Do you see big project selection in the coming months?
Giuseppe Artizzu
executiveI mean, I think, probably, I already addressed this answer. So are we seeing a constant flow of medium-to-large opportunities? Yes. How much of those are going to be awarded over the next few weeks and months? It largely depends on the ability to strike a right balance in terms of risk allocation between us and in general, suppliers and buyers because there are clauses that need to be in contracts current -- they currently need to be in contract that no one is used to, and it needs a little bit of learning for everybody to live with those. So market demand is booming. Supply is challenged. We need to strike a middle ground in terms of risk allocation.
Chiara Cerri
executiveThank you very much. Also for any other questions you may have, please feel free to contact our IR team, Mr. Gabriele Tuccillo and Elena Panseri will be happy to answer to all your questions.
An-Ping Chang
executiveOkay. Thank you.
Carlalberto Guglielminotti
executiveSo thank you very much for your time. Thanks for the very stimulating an interesting question you raised. And have a nice morning or afternoon depending on your time zone, everyone, and have a nice day. Thank you. Bye.
An-Ping Chang
executiveBye.
Read the full transcript via the API
You're viewing the first half of this call. Get the complete NHOA S.A. transcript — plus 256,000+ transcripts from 12,000+ companies, speaker segments, AI summaries and full-text search — through the EarningsCalls.dev API.
Get the API View API docs →This call discussed
For developers and AI pipelines
Programmatic access to NHOA S.A. earnings transcripts and 256,000+ others is available through the
EarningsCalls.dev REST API. Plans from $24.99/month — full transcripts, speaker segments,
full-text search, and the recently-added /api/v1/transcripts/recent polling endpoint for ETL pipelines.
More tools for stock research
OptionsBell: an unusual options activity scanner that tracks options flow across all US stocks and emails you when large trades appear in NHOA S.A. or any ticker on your watchlist.
StockMarketScan: a stock screener with alerts: 24 pre-built screens refreshed every 5 minutes, watchlists and email notifications. Both offer API and MCP access and fair monthly pricing.